Boat hull construction



Feb. 26, 1963 H. KISS BOAT HULL CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 27, 1960 INVENTOR. HOWARD KISS HIS ATTORNEY.

Feb. 26, 1963 H. KISS BOAT HULL CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets -Sheet 2 Filed May 27, 1960 FIG.

1 INVENTOR. HOWARD KISS 311% HIS ATTORNEY/ Patented Feb. 26, 1963 nice 3,078,819 BOAT HULL CONSTRUCTIGN Howard Kiss, 328 Bedell St., Freeport, NY. Filed May 27, 1960, Ser. No. 32,298 1 Claim. (Cl. 114-61) This invention relates to hull construction for boats and primarily for small pleasure craft and relates more particularly to the design of the submersible portion of a craft to give it a more efiicient configuration to give it faster speeds by greatly reducing its resistance to forward travel over existing designs.

An important object of the invention is to provide an improved hull construction having a central concave longitudinal channel of generally rectangular shape in cross section which reduces waves, wake and water friction without, however, producing a configuration which in appearance departs noticeably from conventional craft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a boat construction which has many of the advantages, including that of increased stability and safety, of a catamaran type without, however, presenting its ungainly and decidedly unpopular appearance.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottom construction of boat hull which permits the use of a propeller shaft which remains horizontal at all speeds, thus producing more efiicient operation. A boat must usually attain a speed of from one-half to two-thirds of its total speed in order to plane or get up on top of the water, while the hull of the present invention is on top of the water at all times and since it is a level riding hull it does not need to raise its prow in order to plane.

The boat of the present invention remains substantially horizontal at all speeds and the upper wall of the central channel remains just above the water line at all times, thus forming in effect an air channel which is of a width equal to about one-third the total width of the hull. The hull may further be formed with smaller channels extending longitudinally on each side of the generally flat bottom section near the sides of the boat.

The resulting hull has the stability of a flat bottomed craft without its accompanying drag. The craft has most of the appearance of a conventional hull and the central air channel is hardly noticeable, either from the front or from the rear when the craft is moving.

In the drawings:

"BIG. 1 is a side elevation of an embodiment of the invention in the symmetrical hull of a boat of the size of the usual pleasure craft.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view of the stern or rear elevation of the craft of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view looking at the forward end of a prow of the craft of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a transverse section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a broken rear elevation of a craft of the present invention modified to provide propulsion by outboard motors.

The hull of the craft is indicated at 10 and it is formed with sides 11 which are vertical or substantially so, and a vertical stern 12 which has a generally rectangular contour. The sides 11 are substantially parallel over the major portion of the length of the craft. The forward sections of the opposed sides of the craft are rounded as shown at 1-4 and below the upper edges of this curved section the surfaces are inclined inwardly as shown at 15 in FIG. 2. The prow 16 has a downwardly extending receding convex portion shown at 18 and is of minimum width.

On each side of the prow the hull may have receding concave surfaces 20 whose upper edges 21 curve downwardly toward the lower longitudinal edges 22 of the hull. In the instance shown the receding concave surface 20 extends rearwardly about one-third the length of the craft and terminates at a point 24 along said lower longitudinal edges. This relationship, however, may vary considerably, depending upon the use to which the craft is to be put.

The bottom of the hull is substantially flat as shown at 26 and there is formed a central longitudinal channel or trough extending from the stem to the bow and is defined as is shown by the rear elevation of the craft by a horizontal wall 29 and opposed vertical walls 30. The channel is thus generally rectangular in cross section throughout the major portion of its length and only at the bow do the vertical surfaces 30 and the horizontal surface merge into opposed curved surfaces 31 as shown in FIG. 4.

This channel is so proportioned relative to the balance of the craft that when the craft is carrying its normal load, horizontal Wall 29 is just above the water line, thereby reducing the amount of surface which contacts the water. In the preferred form of the invention the width of the channel is about equal to the width of each of the two fiat bottom sections 26 and if the load carried by the boat is equally distributed from fore to aft the boat will ride substantially level at all times and regardless of speed. In actual practice, however, it has been found that the bow of the boat has a tendency to remain ever so slightly higher than the stern which accounts for the provision of the opposed curved surface 31 at the bow which does not materially reduce the crosssectional contour of the longitudinal trough while giving the craft an appearance more nearly like conventional boats.

There is also formed a smaller channel or trough 32 on each side of the fiat bottom section 26 adjacent to but spaced from opposed sides 11, The channel which may be semi-circular in transverse section extends the full length of the craft.

The keel 34 extends downwardly in an area inside the center of each fiat bottom section '26. This keel is of generally rectangular contour at its point of greatest width, i.e., at the point where section 5-5 is taken, and it is tapered inwardly at its rear section 36 and is also tapered inwardly as it approaches its forward end 37 which is located approximately at point 24. It will be noted in FIG. 1 that this forward section of the keel also slopes upwardly at 33. Each keel also supports a shaft for the propeller 40. The shaft is shown as being driven by an inclined shaft 41 from the engine 42. A rudder is shown at 44.

The hull of the present invention is also suitable for use with an outboard craft and this arrangement is shown in FIG. 6 which is a broken rear elevation of the hull with its square stern 46, its generally vertical sides 48 and its central longitudinal channel 45 and narrower channels 4-9 on the fiat bottom section 51. Twin outboard motors are shown at 52.

While there have been described herein what are at present considered preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that the exemplary embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claim, and that all modifications that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim are intended to be in- 0 cluded therein.

What I claim is: In a boat construction, a hull of generally rectangular 3 shape in transverse section and having a pointed bow formed by surfaces which are slightly inwardly and downwardly inclined, the opposed-sides of the hull being substantially vertical and the bottom being fiat and having a central channel extending upwardly from said bottorn, said channel being rectangular in transverse section and being of a width about two times its depth and dividing the lower portion of the hull into two generallyflat, symmetrical sections and extending. from the stern to the bow and whose forwardlend is defined by sectionsvvhich are curved upwardly'and inwardly and form continuationsof the opposedsides of thechannel and leading upwardly to a prow, the width of said symmetrical sections being substantially the same as the width of the channel, and downwardly extending. keels on each of said latter'sections, 15 2.666,406

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 160,027 Smith Sept. 5, 1950 23,105 Montgomery Mar. 1, 1859 128,407 Macpherson "a June 25, 1872 763,684 Manker June 28; 1904 987,059 Frampton Mar. I4, 1911 2,285,959 Dubay June 9, 1942 2,488,183 Garment Nov. 15, 1949 Babcock Jan. 19, 1954 

